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Thursday, June 6, 2013

Today I chose to work the Wauboose Lake sector for the breeding bird atlas. Most of the back roads I can access lead to lakes. I took the rustic trail to Little Egg and Big Egg Lakes first.

Most of the roads also traverse through deciduous forests to get to the lakes. The woods were just bursting with bird song, so it took me several hours to go just a couple of miles. I kept track of each singing species and ticked off each time I heard them in a different location. Five different singing males of each species heard on one day constitutes moving them up from possible nesters to probable nesters. I had at least 15 species that I verified as probable today. One of those “probables” was the chestnut sided warbler.

“Please, please, pleased to meet-cha” is what this bird sounds like if you have a good imagination. I’m sure he’d be pleased to meet a gorgeous little lady friend.

Marsh marigolds are beginning to blossom in some of the wetland areas. Even though it’s been wet and chilly, I guess spring is here… finally.

I think we finally made it up to 60* today, but I was still wearing a hooded sweatshirt and insulated jacket over that. Cold weather doesn’t seem to bother the ticks, however, as they were out in full force.

I kicked up a pair of adult bald eagles once again today at the same spot I saw them yesterday. I’m thinking they may have a nest nearby, but I haven’t been able to find it yet. However, I was able to confirm my first breeding species for this sector. That’s a male tree swallow in the photo. Can you see the old woodpecker’s nest whole in the bottom of the pic? Well, Mrs. Tree Swallow was busy sitting on eggs inside. Tree swallows readily use nest boxes because they are cavity nesters. Not many nest boxes around here, so they chose a natural cavity that had already been made for them by a woodpecker at some time in the past. No, I did not climb the tree to verify that mom was inside. She just flew into the hole and stayed… an excellent indication that she’s setting on eggs.

When I stopped for lunch along a lake shore, I heard several warbling vireos singing away. This one actually sat still long enough up in the tree canopy for me to get a shot. They’re a rather plain looking little bird, but what a set of lungs. They sing almost non-stop.

Had an email message from Janice, the volunteer coordinator, this afternoon stating that I would be required to wear steel toed boots for doing my lawn mowing chores. I don’t have any. Best part of that email was that she suggested a store in Detroit Lakes, L & M Fleet (where I bought my fishing rod), to go to and pick out a pair of comfortable boots and put them on hold. The refuge will go in on Monday to pay for them and pick them up. I can live with that. Looks like I have a mission for this weekend.

Then I got a phone call just before 5:00 this evening from Wold’s RV. They were supposed to come out on Tuesday to fix my awning, but never showed. I called them yesterday to complain that the least they could have done is call me about not coming so I wouldn’t have had to wait around all day. Did the awning get fixed? No. The RV techs worked on it for a while, made some adjustments and are pretty stymied as to why it won’t work properly. They will be calling Dometic to get suggestions as to what to do.

So it was a mixed bag of tricks today. Some good news, some bad news. It will all even out eventually.

That is great they will pay for your boots! Your bird pictures are awesome...especially the chestnut sided warbler with his beak wide open and just a singin'. The marsh marigolds are pretty too...nothing like a spot of yellow to put a smile on your face!

Birding by ear. You've got my envy up again. I can recognize a few calls but I sure wish it was more. Excellent that the refuge requires steel toed boots and even more excellent that they will pay for them since they do. Can't wait to see you modeling them.

Good deal on the boots. I really would like to get some sort of very small camping trailer, but want a stripped down model only. I shudder every time someone mentions Dometic or Thetford, as I can't believe how many stories I've heard over the years about the lack of quality in those two brands, and the inability of the company to either fix what's wrong and not try to get out of warranties. The fridge in my 5th wheel was a real piece of junk. I hope you have better luck.